Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Names of below-decks passenger spaces
PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:38 am 
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Here’s another question I have from my translation project. (Please let me know if I am abusing the forum’s function by posting these questions.)

In the book I am translating from German, a group of people is crossing the Atlantic in a three-masted bark/barque (is one spelling preferred?). The ship is primarily a cargo vessel, but it has room for over 100 passengers as well.

There are three types of accommodation for passengers: cabins (about 20 of these, very expensive compared with the following two options), a below-decks space called the “Zwischendeck” for 60 people, and a similar space for 16 people called (even in German) “Steerage”.

Both of these spaces are similar in that they are right under the main deck (so that sailors can be heard walking overhead), they have bunks nailed into the walls (four people to a bunk; two up, two down), they have low ceilings and stairs leading up to hatches which are closed during storms.

The Zwischendeck and the Steerage differ in the following ways:

1. Steerage costs about 25% more than Zwischendeck
2. Steerage isn’t as crowded as Zwischendeck
3. Steerage is aft of Zwischendeck (but they share a wall); the Zwischendeck seems to be fairly far forward while the Steerage is more in the middle of the ship
4. Steerage has two hatches; Zwischendeck has only one
5. Steerage is obviously a smaller space (16 people vs 60 in Zwsichendeck)

Given those facts, how would these two spaces have been named on an English-speaking ship? One of them would resumably be the “steerage,” but which one? And what would the other be called?

So far, I have avoided the problem by calling the Zwischendeck the “forward steerage” and the Steerage the “aft steerage”, but I just made that up.

Thanks for whatever light you can shed.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:16 am 
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Bark or Barque? = either is acceptable, but I think that 'barque' tends to be the preferred British spelling, 'bark' the U.S. version.

Different types of accomodation - I am not an expert on this at all, and am open to correction, but looking at the advertisements for emigrant ships, they use a variety of names for the accomodation, "cabin class", "intermediate" and "steerage", but also 1st, 2nd and 3rd class.

Oh incidentally, only landlubbers would refer to 'walls' - to a sailor an internal division is a bulkhead.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:28 am 
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George,

Firstly, you are certainly not abusing the forum, by posing your questions.

In addition to what PN has written, I believe that 'barque' was more a nineteenth century term and referred to the ship's rig, in that it was square-rigged (with square sails) on the fore and main masts, but fore-and-aft rigged only (ie. with no square sails, but with a 'spanker' along the vessel's centreline) on the mizzen. The term 'bark', besides being the spelling used more in America, was also used in England to refer to a type of hull, particularly during the eighteenth century, and usually meant a small, strongly-built vessel. Hence for example the vessels used in the coasting coal trade, and subsequently used by Cook on his voyages, were known as 'cat barks'.

The kind of vessel you are referring to, is more akin to an Indiaman rather than a warship, the latter being the vessel type we usually deal with on the forum. Warships were not usually so thoughtfully divided up below decks into cabins for the crew, officers excepted! The crew would have slept in hammocks, slung from the beams, not usually in nice, comfy, bunks (although hammocks can be so too!) I believe most Indiamen of whatever country were divided up into various groupings, steerage, cabin, etc. and each would have reflected the social standing of the passengers situated there. Of course the ship would also be carrying cargo, since there were no purely passenger ships in those days.

From the above, I take it the vessel you refer to was a late nineteenth century German vessel. Since they are crossing the Atlantic, I wonder if could they be bound for America as emigrants?

From googling around I found out that 'Zwischendeck' does mean steerage, so your own thought on this might be near the truth!

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Kester.


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 Post subject: Re: Names of below-decks passenger spaces
PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:38 am 
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George,

Like my confreres, I am no expert, but I have never seen this division of 'lower class' accomodation into 'steerage' and 'zwischendeck' on a British 19th century immigrant/passenger ship. Posters advertising passages have a variety of cabins on offer for the more wealthy ('first class', 'second class', 'saloon' etc) but only 'steerage' is available for the poor.

The latter were, of course, the vast majority in emigrant ships. The 'Ocean Monarch' for example which sailed from Liverpool for Boston in 1848, had about 10 first class, 22 second class and 322 steerage passengers. The exact figures are unknown because the ship was destroyed by fire in the first day out.

The Government Post Office Packets which provided a regular service between Falmouth and various parts of the the globe also carried passengers, but they don't give an answer to your question either. In the days of sail, passages were either 'cabin' or 'steerage'; and when steam took over ,'first', 'second' or 'third' class.

Brian


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 12:58 pm 
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George:

I hesitate to make a comment here; however, having visited Ellis Island, the receiving station for immigrants to the USA, I was aware that they have a formidable archive.

if you know the name of an English ship that carried passengers to New York, you can use this to access the passenger list, which might indicate the type of accommodation available to passengers, with the appropriate terminology of the day, in English.

http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ship_list.asp

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Anna


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 3:01 pm 
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Thanks to all of you for your prompt responses. This forum is a great asset!

Based on your comments, I will go with “bark” (not “barque”).

On the Zwischendeck/Steerage question, I guess I will stick with “forward steerage/aft steerage” unless I stumble across something better. My job is to translate the book, and I have to limit my research or I would never get the job done. But I must at least make it seem reasonable to those who know something about the subject. The German author put in a great deal of effort in getting the details right; I certainly don’t want to undermine his work.

And, speaking of getting the details right, thank you, PhiloNauticus, for pointing out that an internal transverse wall is a “bulkhead”. As it happens, I need that term at several points in the translation. You are correct in outing me as a landlubber.

In answer to Kester’s question about destination, they are bound for New Orleans. The voyage takes place in about 1870 or a little earlier. (You are right on the mark with “late nineteenth century German vessel”. At the time, according to the book, steam-powered ships had taken over most of the transatlantic traffic, but you could get a bargain passage on the remaining sailing vessels.) The protagonists in the story are not exactly emigrants: they are an itinerant carpentry crew that has always spent its summers roaming an area of what was then East Prussia, building houses and churches. But by the late 1860s, wars and crop failure had left them without customers. So they scraped together the funds to try their luck in America for two years. They shipped out of Danzig, which is now the Polish city of Gdansk.

For anyone who is interested and reads German, the book is “Der lange Weg des Lukas B” (The Long Journey of Lukas B.) by Willi Fährmann. It’s a well-told tale, a childhood favorite of a number of Germans I have met.

-- George


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 3:50 pm 
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George,

Glad to have been of help!

Thanks also for the interesting information re. the reasons for the voyage. It sounds like a good book – pity I don't read German!

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Kester.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:25 pm 
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Later, 3rd Class accomodation (or steerage) was sometimes further divided into 3rd and 4th classes. It looks like you may have found a particularly early example of this.

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Tony


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